Drug use, reckless driving, binge drinking, risky stunts, eating disorders, bullying, and petty crime. All of these behaviors are easy to stumble across when scrolling on social media, even for just a few minutes.
Currently, more than half of the world’s population uses social media, with the average daily usage being over two hours. At first glance, two hours out of twenty-four may seem like an insignificant portion, but that is far from the case. Once people sign up for these online sites, they typically become consistent users; meaning that those two hours a day can easily rack up to nearly eight hundred hours a year, or more than thirty-three days. With more and more people joining social media, it is crucial that we pay close attention to the messages that billions are exposed to so frequently.
One important thing to keep in mind is that social media companies are businesses. Although creating an account on their sites is free, they are still profiting off of the user’s time and attention. For better or for worse, it is in the company’s best interest to capture people’s attention and retain it for as long as possible. A simple scrolling session of ten minutes might be a small part of one’s daily routine, but for social media companies, that is how they make billions of dollars annually.
By nestling advertisements in between regular content, social media sites make it increasingly difficult for users to discern what posts are meant for entertainment and what posts are trying to sell them a product. The apps’ algorithms use various strategies to captivate the user’s attention and keep people using the program for longer, thus exposing them to more of these hidden ads.
Social media apps typically keep peoples’ interest by analyzing the types of posts users enjoy and placing more similar content on their feeds. By showing them posts that interest them, companies are able to engage people for longer, and therefore expose them to more advertisements and products.
However, a more unorthodox approach to maintaining users’ attention is emerging on many social media platforms. Rather than algorithms predicting what a user would most likely want to see, many social media apps appear to be showing more controversial or unpleasant content on peoples’ feeds. Consequently, these provocative videos agitate users and make them scroll for longer.
On the topic of unpleasant content, one creator named Chris Colditz (under the username @coldcutz20 on Instagram), went viral for posting videos of him purposefully injuring himself. In one video, Colditz is shown lifting weights as several metal scooters swing on a rope and hit him in the shins. In other clips, he is hit to the point that his legs start to bleed. Most of Colditz’ content is similar and several of his videos have gained significant traction across social media platforms. Although many of the comments express disgust or discomfort at the sight of these self-inflicted injuries, the like and view counts of these videos tell a different story. This phenomenon is akin to the idea of rubbernecking: when morbidly curious drivers stop and stare at car wrecks, often leading to traffic jams. In this case, the “traffic jam” in question is a surge in engagement.
The rise in videos of dangerous stunts is attributed to both the shock they elicit in the viewer and also the fundamental design of the algorithms. Jamie Cohen, Ph.D., teaches a class at Queens College about Digital Culture and Media. According to him, “When you create content, [the algorithm] normalizes the content pretty rapidly. So if something gets a lot of traction, it will no longer get traction on the next iteration because it has become normalized. So therefore someone has to make something more extreme.”
Social media has become an increasingly competitive space where creators are on the hunt for something dangerous and shocking that will go more viral. As more of this vein of content gets normalized by the algorithms, the scope of what is worthy of trending narrows. Soon, swimming with sharks might be considered a boring stunt that’s undesirable compared to jumping off of a building, which produces more likes.
In the case of dangerous stunts, we have seen the impacts of this content on the young, impressionable minds of teens in America. A massively popular trend seen in 2021 on TikTok encouraged high school students to vandalize and steal from school bathrooms; toilet paper, soap dispensers, and even mirrors, sinks, and toilets were stolen or damaged.
As previously stated, trends like this go viral because the algorithms support videos that generate any significant engagement, whether negative or positive. This enables the creation of more upsetting and potentially harmful content. The messages people are exposed to from an early age shape their minds and behaviors when they are older. It is time to closely reassess what the future leaders of our country and our world are watching every day.
Aside from dangerous behaviors, we have also seen the continual rise of rage-bait content on social media. People enjoy arguing as a way of coping with repressed emotions; in a time when mental disorders like anxiety or depression are at an all-time high, it is the perfect storm for rage-bait content to fester and gain popularity on social media. Posting controversial, false, and especially offensive content has become commonplace on many platforms. These videos’ views and engagement often skyrocket because of the arguments that ensue in the comments section.
Rather than algorithms pushing videos that receive a lot of positive engagement onto people’s feeds, videos that get many comments and views often become more successful due to the programming behind these apps. Typically, the creators of these offensive videos don’t even agree with the statements they’re making, but rather want their five minutes of fame while social media becomes an evermore present aspect of all our lives.
Although many examples of rage-bait and stunt videos are meant to be satirical, they must be taken seriously. In the case of rage-baiting and hate speech, we have already seen the effects that social media can have on conflicts on a global scale as well. In 2021, Facebook was sued for its algorithms’ influence on the genocide of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. The lack of fact-checking and moderation on the platform as well as the design of the algorithms contributed to the popularity of posts inciting violence and spreading hate speech against the Rohingyas. This situation continues on even today, with experts estimating that at least ten thousand people have died in the crisis.
Although social media is a powerful tool for spreading awareness and connecting with people, many negative aspects of social media have been seeping outside of the digital world. It’s time that more people understand that the line between the real and digital words has blurred, and we must take social media just as seriously as any other aspect of our lives.
Every year, more and more people create social media accounts. The companies that run these platforms have even more of an iron grip on our society with each passing minute. Keeping the algorithms of these countries in check is essential to making progress and undoing the damage that social media has already done. With more regulations and increased social media literacy, these platforms can be used for much more than entertainment, with real benefits for the world as a whole.
Despite all the harm that social media may cause, the influence that it has over society can and already has been used for good. These platforms allow users to communicate with like-minded people around the globe instantaneously, which should not be overlooked. But social media is an awfully sharp double-edged sword, one that we must handle with utmost care.
“When you create content, [the algorithm] normalizes the content pretty rapidly. So if something gets a lot of traction, it will no longer get traction on the next iteration because it has become normalized. So therefore someone has to make something more extreme,” said Jamie Cohen, Ph.D., who teaches a class at Queens College about Digital Culture and Media.